Harris, Trump paint different pictures for voters as campaign intensifies

Kamala Harris is pushing joy- branding Democratic ticket, which includes her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz, as joyful warriors; Trump, meanwhile, has promoted a gloomier view for Republicans

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are painting much different pictures as they meet with voters on the campaign trail. Harris, by turns, is pushing joy -- branding the Democratic ticket, which includes her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz, as joyful warriors.

Trump, meanwhile, has promoted a gloomier view for Republicans, saying at a news conference last week that, We have a lot of bad things coming up.

Voters will hear more from both candidates and their running mates in the days ahead.

Walz will hold his first solo events this week, travelling on Tuesday to Los Angeles to speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention, before attending a series of fundraisers around the country.

 

Trump is set to do a live interview Monday on X, the social platform from which he was banned for nearly two years following the Jan 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol.

Here's the Latest:

Trump falsely claims a crowd photo from Harris' campaign rally in Detroit was created using AI

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spreading false claims that an image of thousands of people waiting at Detroit's airport as Democrat Kamala Harris arrived for a campaign rally was fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence.

Reporters, photographers and video journalists representing The Associated Press and other news organisations who either travelled with Vice President Harris or were on the airport tarmac documented the crowd size last Wednesday as she arrived on Air Force Two. Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, analysed the photo and found no evidence of manipulation. Harris' campaign also denied the photo in question was manipulated and posted about it on social media.

Fifteen thousand people attended the Detroit airport rally, Harris' campaign said.

Trump started pushing false theories about the Harris campaign photo a few days after he held a news conference at his Florida estate on Thursday and was asked about the crowds at his Democratic rival's rallies. Trump said no one draws crowds as big as he does.

Trump and his allies once cheered hacked materials. No longer, now that they say he's a target

Donald Trump was once a cheerleader of publicising hacked materials.

Russia, if you're listening, Trump said during a press conference in his 2016 presidential run, when Hillary Clinton's deleted personal emails were a hot topic, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.

I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press, he said back then.

That changed when Trump's latest presidential campaign declared this weekend it had been hacked by Iran. Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America's enemies and doing exactly what they want, Steven Cheung, the campaign's communications director, said in a statement on Saturday announcing that the campaign had been hacked.

The campaign has not responded to questions about why its view on hacking changed, including a query on Monday from The Associated Press. But its new position is a striking change from 2016, when Trump heartily embraced the Russian hacking of his opponent Clinton's aides and the Democratic National Committee.

FBI is investigating allegations that sensitive documents were stolen from Trump campaign

The FBI said Monday it is investigating allegations that sensitive documents from the Trump campaign were stolen in a cyber intrusion days after the campaign declared it had been hacked by Iran.

The FBI released a brief statement reading, We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter.

The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran's involvement, but the claim came shortly after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents' attempts to interfere in the US campaign in 2024.

The report cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor. Iran's mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, has denied being involved.

Looking ahead to Jan 6, one group calls on Congress to pledge to certify the 2024 election results

Counting down the days until Jan 6, 2025, a group is calling on Congress to pledge to certify the election results and prevent a repeat of 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Rep Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said with the nation on the cusp of the presidential election, we should never forget what happened on Jan 6, 2021.

Morelle on Monday joined a virtual press conference with former police officers Aquilino Gonell and Michael Fanone who were both gravely injured that day as they battled the mob.

With 147 days to go until Jan 6, when Congress is again expected to gather to count the electoral votes, the group Courage for America is urging officials not to spread election disinformation and is asking lawmakers to accept the outcome of the November election. The group noted that 147 Republicans in Congress voted against certification in 2021.

We can't let this time be anything like the last, said Gonell.

Early Harris-Walz rallies feature big crowds, talk of joy and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming

Big crowds, go-to applause lines, talk of joy -- and some unsolicited Republican counterprogramming.

These were common themes during the first big campaign swing for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz, as the new Democratic ticket barnstormed through five battleground states this past week on a get-to-know-us tour.

They opened with a boisterous rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, hours after Harris announced Walz as her running mate. From there it was a march through Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Planned stops in Georgia and North Carolina were washed out by Tropical Storm Debby.

The tour was a way to help both candidates introduce themselves to voters, especially independent and undecided voters in states where the Democrats are in tight races against Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen JD Vance.

Latinos are excited about Harris, but she has work to do to win the crucial voting bloc, experts say

Latino voters and leaders say they are enthusiastic about Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, but for her to win their crucial support, they want to know where she stands on issues like the economy, immigration and education.

As the nation's largest minority group -- 19.5% of the total population, according to the 2020 census -- Latinos form a key voting bloc in what's shaping up to be a tight presidential election. Harris, the daughter of immigrants, has won the backing of influential Latino groups, and some feel her success hinges on energising young Latino voters.

Trump reportedly used a slur against Harris in private conversations

Former President Donald Trump reportedly has used a slur often targeted at women to describe Vice President Kamala Harris during at least two private conversations. His campaign denies it.

The New York Times cited two people who, on different occasions, heard Trump call Harris a b. The people were granted anonymity to describe private discussions.

In response, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, That is not language President Trump has used to describe Kamala and it's not how the campaign would characterise her.

Trump, a Republican, has a history of making derogatory statements about women and his political opponents. He has called Harris, the Democrats' presidential candidate, and other women, including 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, nasty, and he bragged about grabbing women's genitalia in the infamous Access Hollywood tape.

From Biden to Gabbard, here's what Harris' past debates show before a faceoff with Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly taunted her opponent's seeming reluctance to debate, telling a series of raucous audiences about Donald Trump's criticisms of her: As the saying goes, if you've got something to say, say it to my face.

After first backing out of an agreement, Trump reversed himself and said he'd meet Harris on Sept 10 for an event hosted by ABC. That sets up a long-anticipated faceoff between the Democratic and Republican nominees -- and, indeed, the chance for both of them to deliver their attack lines directly at one another.

Sharing a stage with Trump presents a critical chance for Harris to define herself and her opponent in a truncated campaign, with many open questions about her policy positions. But it also sets up a major test -- one that President Joe Biden failed badly enough that he ended his campaign and made way for her.

Democrats launch first paid ad campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket in battleground states

With a solidified presidential ticket stumping across the country and a massive amount of money to spend, the Democratic Party is targeting seven critical battleground states with paid advertising for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz.

The Democratic National Committee announced the Harris-Walz advertising push on Monday, which includes more than 70 billboards across the key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It's the ticket's first paid advertising blitz since Walz joined the campaign -- and the first of many to come in areas that are poised to determine the outcome of the presidential election in November.

The billboards will be in several key urban areas across the battleground states, such as Atlanta, Detroit, Charlotte and Philadelphia, according to the DNC. Many are set up along major interstates and highways, including Interstate 95 and Interstate 10.

Will Trump's and Harris' mismatched moods matter?

At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, Thank you for bringing back the joy. The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket joyful warriors.

Contrast that with former President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida a few days later by saying, We have a lot of bad things coming up, and predicting the US could fall into an economic depression unseen since the dark days of 1929 or even another world war.

Two-thirds of Americans reported feeling very or somewhat pessimistic about the state of politics, according to polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from last month. Roughly 7 in 10 said things in the country are heading in the wrong direction.

But Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the former president, said people don't care about vibe checks.

That's not making gas or food or housing less expensive, Miller said.

Vance hails Trump's Fed idea and pushes back against criticism over past words on American families

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used a round of Sunday news show appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trump's record and second-term plans and defend himself from criticism over past remarks that have become a campaign issue.

The Ohio senator, in a series of taped interviews, said there was merit to Trump's suggestion that presidents have more control of U.S. monetary policy and kept up the GOP line that Minnesota Gov Tim Walz, the Democrats' vice presidential candidate, had exaggerated his military record.

Vance, who shadowed Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz during their recent visits to several battleground states, was quizzed about abortion and his past comments about American family life, among other topics.

Trump campaign says its emails were hacked

Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.

The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran's involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents' attempts to interfere in the US campaign in 2024.

It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on foreign sources hostile to the United States. A spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of improper foreign interference extremely seriously and condemns any government or entity that attempts to undermine confidence in US democratic institutions, but said it deferred to the Justice Department on this matter.

Walz to hold first solo events as Harris' running mate

Tim Walz is holding his first solo events as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, travelling on Tuesday to Los Angeles to speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention, before attending a series of fundraisers around the country.

After his speech in Los Angeles, the Minnesota governor will hit five states in three days, beginning with a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California.

He will headline two more fundraisers on Wednesday in Denver and Boston. He'll speak at fundraisers in Newport, Rhode Island, and Southampton, New York the following day.

Harris introduced Walz as her running mate during a joint rally last week in Philadelphia, and the pair then campaigned together in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. The vice president is set to campaign with Biden in Maryland this week, and also has promised to detail her policy proposals on the economy.